A Vast Flock of Wildfowl. a7 
lake, far out of gunshot ; at night they land, or feed 
along the shore. Teal, and sometimes widgeon also, 
visit the place. Once now and then wildfowl come 
in countless numbers: it is said to be when they are 
driven south by severe weather. On one occasion I 
saw the lake literally black—they almost covered it 
for a length of half a mile and a breadth of about a 
quarter. It was a sight not to be quickly forgotten ; 
and the noise of their wings as vast parties every now 
and then rose and wheeled around was something 
astonishing. They only stayed a few days. 
How many times I have endeavoured to trace the 
V said to be formed by duck while flying, and failed 
to detect it! They fly, it is true, in some sort of 
order, but those that come tothe mere here travel 
rather in a row, or line, slanting forwards, something 
like what military men call in echelon. The teal 
seem much bolder than the wild duck: they are often 
shot as they rise out of the brooks ; but the ducks 
very rarely go to the brooks at all, and can still more 
rarely be approached when they do. They swim in 
the water-carriers in the great irrigated meadows, but 
are careful to remain far out of range; so that the 
only way to shoot them by day is for two or more 
sportsmen to post themselves behind the hedges in 
different places while a third drives them up. 
The first snipes are seen generally in the arable 
lands, afterwards round the lake—the muddy shores 
by choice—and finally in the brooks. As the winter 
